1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing control apparatus, control method thereof, and storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some image processing apparatuses such as a printer and multifunction peripheral have a bookbinding function for bundling a plurality of sheets (printed materials) on which images corresponding to original data are printed, and folding them in half (folding them in the middle) to generate a bookbinding product. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-168134 discloses an apparatus which can execute center folding bookbinding processing of bundling a plurality of printed materials and folding them in half to generate a bookbinding product, and saddle stitching processing of stapling along the fold of a bundle of printed materials folded in half to generate a bookbinding product.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-123991 discloses, as an image processing apparatus having a bookbinding function, an image processing apparatus which divides a plurality of printed materials, on which original images are printed, into a plurality of bundles and executes bookbinding processing (division bookbinding) for each individual bundle. This image processing apparatus can designate breaks of originals such as chapters and sections at division portions when dividing a plurality of printed materials into a plurality of bundles.
The above-described image processing apparatus having the bookbinding (folding bookbinding) function based on folding processing of folding a plurality of sheets in the middle may cause the following problem when a sheet other than sheets on which the body of the bookbinding product is printed is inserted at an arbitrary portion in the bookbinding product. A case in which a sheet having a size (folding size) obtained by folding in half a sheet forming a bookbinding product is inserted at an arbitrary portion in a bookbinding product generated by folding bookbinding, and a case in which a sheet having the same size (double-page size) as that of a sheet forming a bookbinding product is inserted at an arbitrary portion in a bookbinding product generated by folding bookbinding will be assumed. FIG. 11 exemplifies a case in which a sheet (insertion sheet) other than three sheets is inserted into a bookbinding product obtained by performing folding processing for these three sheets on which the original images of 12 pages of the body are printed on the two surfaces.
First, a bookbinding product 1101 is obtained by inserting a sheet of the folding size between the fourth and fifth pages of the body separately from three sheets corresponding to the body. To generate a bookbinding product such as the bookbinding product 1101, for example, it is conceivable to execute folding processing for sheets of the body and then insert a sheet of the folding size between the fourth and fifth pages of the body. However, it is generally known that it is difficult in terms of the apparatus arrangement to generate the bookbinding product 1101 in this way.
When a sheet of the folding size is inserted between the fourth and fifth pages of the body before executing folding processing for sheets of the body, a bookbinding product such as a bookbinding product 1102 may be generated as a result of the folding processing. More specifically, when an inserted sheet of the folding size is not properly aligned with body sheets of the double-page size, the inserted sheet may be inserted not only between the fourth and fifth pages of the body but also between the eighth and ninth pages of the body against the user's will.
Also, when inserting a sheet of the double-page size at an arbitrary portion in a bookbinding product obtained by folding bookbinding, assuming that the entire surface of the sheet to be inserted is printed, the sheet is desirably inserted to be able to spread it. However, to enable spread of the sheet inserted into the bookbinding product, the inserted sheet needs to be positioned innermost (that is, as the center pages of the bookbinding product to be generated) as a result of superposing and folding a plurality of sheets. In other cases, no inserted sheet can be spread as represented by a bookbinding product 1103. In the bookbinding product 1103, the inserted sheet is separately inserted between the fourth and fifth pages of the body and also between the eighth and ninth pages. In this case, the user cannot confirm the printed contents of the inserted sheet while spreading the inserted sheet.